Inspirational and aspirational: Our goal is to be both of those things when we’re putting together an issue of Drawing. Inspirational isn’t usually a problem–we come across so many wonderful artists it’s hard not to be inspired. But the aspirational part can be daunting. Some artists seem so incredibly talented that even thinking about approaching their level of skill can be intimidating or even paralyzing…but it doesn’t have to be.

Regardless of your skill-level, there are vital lessons to be learned from top artists, and we’re proud to present a few of them in Drawing With the Masters, the new eMag from Drawing magazine, available now for only $3,99. In this collection of drawing lessons, we learn in-depth advice from modern masters Ted Seth Jacobs, Rob Liberace and Anthony Ryder.

As a taste of what’s included in this eMag download, here are some pointers from Rob Liberace for improving your drawings:

Use a brush to occasionally blend your strokes. This will give your drawing a mix of hard, soft, blended, and clear areas, which provides greater realism.

Vary the direction of your strokes and the weight of your line to give a sense of space and atmosphere to your drawing. If your lines move only one way all around the figure, the image will look flat.

Highlights have a direction, and they move across the form. An eraser can help create highlights and bring out this quality.

When shading an area, ease the pressure you’re putting on your drawing instrument when moving toward the light. Then, draw with increasing pressure when your line is moving into an area that faces away from the light.

The deepest core shadows cannot be drawn too dark.

If you use long lines, you must draw them decisively. “If you do use a continuous line, put it down with extreme ferocity,” Liberace said in one workshop. “It should be a detonation of line.”

Leave your mistakes in rather than erase them. It’s a great way to add a sense of movement and life to your drawing.